Five students, one desk

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Four students and I all pull up a chair and sit down at the exact same desk in E366 for 47 minutes of our day. We are connected by the piece of glossy wood where we all lean our elbows, by the posters on the opposing wall we all stare at, by the floor we all tap our shoes on, and for some, by the teacher talking to us.

Take for example junior Joji Kano. She sits at this desk during third hour in E366, and she loves drawing intricate dragons on the desk during class and leaves little notes for the next class’s students.

Her third hour class, Psychology, is her favorite class because she find the topics the teacher discusses interesting, and because she has a lot of friends in the class.

“It’s my favorite part of my day because people talk to me there,” Kano said. “But just in general the class is really fun. This is something I take like real great interest in you know?”

But Kano feels as frustrated at the moment as most 15 and 16 year olds without a driver’s license, and says she can’t wait to take Drivers Ed next semester.

“I just want to get out. I mean I live in the middle of nowhere, I can’t even walk into town. Like if I tried walking to town I’d probably be dead since I’d probably have to walk along Route 14,” Kano said. “I spend a lot of time outside though, to just hang out in trees. I like climbing trees and I have like my little tree house in my backyard. My brother built it, and it’s his, but I inhabited it and now I just hang out there.”

As for the future, she’s still figuring it out, but said Psychology has helped her consider a new career path.

“I’m considering being a criminal psychologist, an ornithologist, a park ranger or a taxidermist for possible careers.” she said. “I might want to be an ornithologist because when I was really young I rescued a bird, May, and it was like in the middle of winter and she’s a tropical bird so of course that’s unnatural. And of course we put out like found signs everywhere but I still have May, and I got her a friend, Lydia, who’s also another Cockatiel.”

Senior Harleen Singh takes both Marketing for Millennials as well as Financial Accounting in E366 and sits in the same seat as Kano.

“I’ve noticed some drawings on the desk sometimes, and Mr. Bell’s reaction to them is pretty funny,” Singh said.

Singh, however, has an entirely different experience in her class than Kano.

“I am doing very well in Marketing, I am struggling a little in Accounting but nothing that some studying can’t fix. I like the classes though because many of Mr. Bell’s jokes make me laugh, and I want to study Business in college. I plan on starting my own company in the future and being my own boss,” Singh said. “But the classes aren’t my favorite parts of my day because my favorite part of my day is when I get to sleep or eat. I am passionate about eating. I am a huge foodie and I just love trying new restaurants and new food.”

As for senior Cedric Collier, who considers himself to be the tallest kid in school, he has 2nd hour in E366 for Advanced Business Management, and sits at the same desk as Kano and Singh.

“The class has been an absolute blast and Mr. Bell is super nice,” he said.

But senior year is very stressful so he finds that the best parts of his day are first and eighth hour. “They’re my favorite because I don’t have anything during those hours!” Collier said.

He has thought quite a lot about his future and, like Singh, he is also decided on pursuing something related to what’s being covered in his class.

“After high school, I would love to further my education in business. I’m really looking forward to like getting out and going to college to be independent and start my own journey,” Collier said.

Collier has been focusing more on school ever since he had to stop playing sports.

“I was actually very passionate towards baseball but I got injured so now my passion is doing well in school,” Collier said.

Lastly, freshman Alexxis Habeck has Freshman Advisory in the classroom and she says the hour feels a bit longer than the rest of her classes.

“Advisory is kind of boring,” Habeck said. “I’ve noticed the dragons on the desk and I look forward to seeing the new ones that people draw.”

And although she may not discover what she wants to pursue in the classroom as the other students who sit at her desk seem to have, as a freshman, Habeck definitely still has time to decide.

“In the future, I might want to study medical stuff maybe, or teaching. But I’m not a bad photographer and I’m actually really passionate about photography, it is really fun to do it,” Habeck said. “But I can’t wait until Thanksgiving break, because afterwards I’m going on vacation! That’s mostly what I’m looking forward to at the moment.”

Each student has a different story, but it is often easy to lose sight of how different one student and his or her personality, worries, passions, dreams, and ultimately even learning style can be from the next because of the uniformity of the class format and because of the stereotypes students or an entire generation are often assigned. But because of such inherent differences, it’s interesting how students can each derive a different experience from their classes than the next person to sit down at their seat once the bell rings.